Turkey has been intensely working to grasp the Indian market for the last five years, according to Ersoy.

The international forum is an important platform to introduce Turkish market to the world, he said, adding that Turkey registered a significant rise in sectoral demand after the 2018 forum.

The world turnover of MICE - which is an acronym for Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions - sector exceeds $600 billion, while the destination wedding events turnover is over $300 billion, he also noted.

“As a sector, IMWF is an important indicator for understanding how strong we are in international competition. [Turkey] has repeatedly demonstrated that we have the strongest sector in international competition with all the components of tourism and open to development,” Ersoy told the conference.

The four-day IMWF2019 event - which began its annual conference on May 13 in the resort city of Antalya - will be attended by a who’s who and decision makers in the sector from India, Dubai and the Community of Independent States countries, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

The IMWF 2019 is organized with the support of the Turkish Ministry of Industry and Technology, partnership of Turkish Airlines and coordination of the IMWF and Western Mediterranean Development Agency.